Ecology of life. Health: Conversations and speculation about the dangers of gluten (wheat protein) have been going on for a long time... For the first time, we present material written by a doctor, with links to real research - and at the same time in a language accessible to everyone.
Conversations and speculation about the dangers of gluten (wheat protein) have been going on for a long time... For the first time, we present material written by a doctor, with links to real research - and at the same time in a language accessible to everyone.
Mark Hyman is a practicing physician, founder of The UltraWellness Center, author of several books that have become four-time New York Times bestsellers, and an international figure in the field of functional medicine.
The world is changing, and many products are no longer the same...Knowing what destructive work gluten does in our body is now important for everyone.
How flour and gluten provoke recruitment mechanisms excess weight, development of prediabetic conditions, diabetes itself, etc.
Modern flour may look the same as traditional flour, but three factors make it significantly different: the way it causes obesity, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, senile dementia, etc.
- Modern flour contains “super starch”
- amylopectin, it most provokes weight gain.
- Modern flour contains “super gluten”
, which has an extremely high ability to provoke silent, constant inflammation.
- Modern flour has a powerful narcotic effect
, powerful addiction and a constant desire to eat more, get more taste.
"Super starch"
The Bible says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Eating bread is practically a religious belief, but the biblical flour of our ancestors is a completely different substance; we never eat it anymore.
Instead, we eat a product that has gone through many stages of genetic manipulation, hybridization, and selection. A product that comes from a plant that produces significantly more and more modified, enormously more resistant grain...
Modern wheat produces a much starchier, gluten-rich grain, and the gluten itself in modern wheat has a different chromosomal structure, including various new proteins that did not exist before. The man who developed the new wheat received a Nobel - this wheat promised to feed millions and millions of hungry people around the world... It fed... but also made the starving people fat and brought disease.
First of all, this new wheat contains large amounts of a “super starch” called amylopectin A. Thanks to it, we have ever-soft sliced sandwich loaves and tender buns.
The downside is that just two slices of modern whole grain wheat bread raises your blood sugar levels as much as two heaped tablespoons of table sugar!
There is no difference between whole grain bread and bread made from first grade flour... In this regard, such propaganda is a huge fraud, the biggest marketing scam: whole grains in products with a high total sugar content and wheat do not give these products any special quality.
It is better to avoid such products altogether - yes, exactly those whose packaging so often claims that they are a healthy, wholesome, whole food (*including breakfast cereals and all products that contain wheat gluten)! As a rule, there is something wrong behind this.
For diabetics, both white and whole wheat flour raise blood sugar levels at about the same rate, to dangerous levels. We know that foods with a high glycemic index (GI) provoke the accumulation of belly fat, provoke the development of hidden silent inflammation in the body, lead to fatty liver, which, in turn, leads to a cascade: obesity-prediabetic conditions-diabetes.
Now every second American has already encountered this problem; indirectly, almost all financial expenditures on health care are aimed at combating it; indirectly, this problem is the root cause of almost all chronic diseases. Diabetes now “devours” every third dollar in the budget of the Medicare health insurance corporation (the largest in the United States).
"Super Gluten"
Modern wheat, the “Frankenstein of cereals,” not only contains “super starch,” but also “super gluten,” which is much more likely to provoke inflammation in the body. In addition to a whole host of inflammatory and chronic diseases, it also causes obesity and diabetes.
Gluten is an inherently sticky protein that actually “glues” bread together and makes it rise. Previously, this protein had 14 chromosomes, and it was not such a powerful provocateur of inflammatory processes and celiac disease. But the modern version of wheat has a different structure, 28 chromosomes and a whole palette of different gluten proteins, including those that are most likely to provoke the development of celiac disease (gluten intolerance).
Why does gluten make you sick and fat?
Gluten causes inflammation, obesity and chronic diseases, mainly acting in five ways:
1. full-blown celiac disease- an autoimmune disease that triggers inflammation throughout the body, which in turn provokes insulin resistance, which causes weight gain and diabetes, as well as more than 55 other disease conditions, including autoimmune diseases, irritable bowel syndrome, persistent belching ( reflex), depression, cancer, osteoporosis, etc.
2. silent inflammation, with which our body reacts to gluten, provoke the development of the same problems, even if you do not have real, “full-blooded” celiac disease - most likely, your reaction to gluten is just an increased amount of antibodies in the blood, but that’s enough.
3. In addition, it is worth mentioning a very alarming recent study showing that Eating gluten can cause a variety of autoimmune reactions, from malfunctions in other parts of the immune system than those usually associated with “true” celiac disease.
Most doctors don't pay attention to gluten sensitivity unless you have a diagnosis of celiac disease, but this new study proves that the condition shouldn't be discounted. Celiac disease develops when the body begins to synthesize antibodies against wheat and other gluten carriers (acquired immunity), while other forms of gluten sensitivity develop due to the work of our innate immunity, which is put on alert against modern gluten.
This means that people can be sensitive to gluten even if they do not have celiac disease or gluten antibodies, but this will not prevent them from getting inflammation and other symptoms from gluten.
4. lectin - non-gluten wheat glycoprotein(a structure consisting of sugar and protein) is called wheat germ agglutinin - this substance is found in the highest concentrations in whole wheat, it also leads to inflammatory processes in all tissues of the body. This is not an autoimmune reaction, but can be just as dangerous and can lead to heart attacks.
5. It is dangerous to get too carried away with gluten-free snacks at the fast food level, such as gluten-free cookies, pastries and processed foods. Industrially processed foods of this type have a high glycemic index (sharply raises blood sugar levels).
Just because a product is gluten-free does not mean the product is healthy. Gluten-free cookies and pies are still baked goods, a mixture of flour with fats and sweets, and often with milk, often reconstituted or refined or modified ingredients made cheaper by hydrogenated fats. A healthy solution is whole vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds, as well as lean animal products - try to stick to this list.
Let's take a closer look at the situation. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, spelled and oats., can cause celiac disease, which provokes inflammatory processes throughout the body, it is also associated with autoimmune diseases, autism, emotional disorders, schizophrenia, senile dementia, digestive disorders, deficiency of vitamins and minerals from food (or indigestibility), diabetes, cancer tumors, etc.
First problem: celiac disease
Celiac disease and problems with the digestibility of wheat in last years began to occupy a significantly more prominent position, now they affect at least 21 million Americans alone, and most likely, many millions of people who have not been examined and do not associate their conditions with eating wheat are not taken into account. 99% of such people in modern world they simply were not examined, and therefore do not have any diagnoses.
98% of people suffering from celiac disease have a genetic predisposition (it is found in 30% of the population). But, despite the fact that our genes have not changed, there have been significantly more patients with celiac disease over the past 50 years due to some external factor stimulating the development of this condition.
A recent study compared blood samples taken 50 years ago from 10,000 US Air Force recruits with samples taken recently from a random 10,000 people. The comparison results were very interesting: over the past 50 years, according to this study, the increase in the incidence of celiac disease was 400%.
And now we are talking about “full-fledged” celiac disease, which affects approximately every hundredth person, within the United States - about three million people. We used to think that celiac disease was found only in children with bloated tummies, rapidly losing weight, and not getting enough nutrients from food. But it is now known that celiac disease can be triggered (according to genetic predisposition) at any age and WITHOUT symptoms of weak or painful digestion.
The inflammation that is caused by celiac disease can lead to insulin resistance, weight gain and/or diabetes, and this author, a physician by profession, sees this pattern all the time.
Problem Two: Gluten and Inflammation in the Gut
In addition to celiac disease, wheat causes problems in another way: gluten causes inflammation because our bodies react to modern gluten with silent (low-intensity) autoimmune reactions. Our immune system, in response to the presence of gluten, synthesizes antibodies to this protein (not large quantities). In fact, such antibodies are present in the blood of 7% of the population, 21 million people (in the USA). The same antibodies were found in 18% of people with autism and 20% of people with schizophrenia.
A large study report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that latent gluten sensitivity (detected by elevated antibody levels in cases where true celiac disease was not detected) increased the risk of death from 35 to 75%, basically, statistically, death was due to cancer or heart attack. Only in line with this mechanism, more than 20 million Americans fall into the risk zone of heart attack, obesity and cancer (*at the same time, the amount of wheat consumed in Russia and the USA does not differ much).
How exactly does gluten contribute to the development of inflammation, cardiovascular disease, obesity and cancer?
The total surface area of the small intestine is comparable to the area of a tennis court! The immune system begins to attack foreign proteins in an attempt to protect the purity of the blood, and these attacks lead to systemic inflammation, which then in turn causes heart disease, dementia, cancer, diabetes and other diseases.
Dr. Alessio Fasano, a celiac disease specialist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, discovered a protein produced in our small intestine called "zonalene" that increases in concentration significantly in the presence of gluten.
If you are diagnosed with this syndrome, then by eating wheat products, you will constantly live with inflammatory processes throughout the body and gradually get a whole list of other symptoms and diseases that, at first glance, have nothing to do with your diet.
Why has the number of "gluten sensitive" people increased so much in the last 50 years?
The point here is that through selection it was possible to change the composition of wheat, the quality and concentration of gluten in cereals. Gluten proteins have become different and there are much more of them in the same volume of product, it is this change that is behind the proliferation of celiac disease and autoimmune reactions to wheat.
Add to this the general aggressiveness of our diet to our digestive system, as well as the aggressive environment, a unhealthy lifestyle and the use of medications - and you will have the perfect set of prerequisites for hypersensitivity to gluten (literally translated as “gluten intolerance,” which is perhaps more correct).
“Super Gluten” easily enters our system through the intestinal barrier and our immune system is forced to react, and it reacts as if gluten is a foreign substance (which it is), so we open fire on these weirdos.
Inflammation is designed to destroy foreign proteins, but in war very often everyone becomes victims indiscriminately. Inflammation does not act selectively, so our other own cells are also attacked, which leads to diabetes and other conditions and diseases caused by inflammatory processes in the body.
The damage that is done to our digestive system together, in a complex way, the use of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medications, a diet with a small amount of living plant fiber and a lot of sugar - all this together leads to the development of celiac disease and gluten intolerance or hypersensitivity to it, and in As a result, we get constant hidden inflammation. That's why eliminating gluten and other food allergens may be the most powerful way to prevent or correct diarrhea and other chronic diseases.
Super drug
Wheat not only contains “super-starch” and “super-gluten,” which makes this grain super-filling and provoking inflammatory processes - in addition, wheat is also a high-quality powerful drug that, in fact, drives you crazy and causes hunger and addiction.
During the digestion process, wheat proteins are broken down into shorter protein chains (polypeptides) called exorphins. They are similar in nature to the endorphins that runners get from running. These substances also appeal to opioid receptors in the brain and give a feeling of high, getting them high in much the same way that heroin gets addicts high. Wheat polypeptides are absorbed into the blood and penetrate through the bloodstream into the brain. They are called gluteomorphins - a derivative of “gluten” and “morphines”.
These powerful substances can cause a host of problems, including schizophrenia and autism. But they are also addictive, “addictive”, causing a constant desire to eat more and overeating.
No one overeats broccoli, but cookies, pie, sandwiches, pizza - it's hard to stop. Even more frightening is the fact that this addiction can be relieved with the same medication that is used in hospitals for an overdose of heroin or morphine (we are talking about naloxone, which blocks the effect of opiates). Under the control of naloxone, people suffering from overeating ate 30% less.
The conclusion is simple: wheat is addictive and an appetite stimulant.
How to beat wheat and lose weight:
Firstly, you should get tested to see if you have any more serious problems associated with eating wheat.
If you recognize yourself in at least one of these points, then it is worth taking a six-week course of 100% abstinence from gluten-containing products to be able to compare the sensations.
If you recognize yourself in three or more points, then you should give up gluten-containing products forever:
- there are signs of celiac disease (allergic, digestive, autoimmune, inflammatory, diarrhea)
- Without gluten-containing foods, you clearly feel better
- you have elevated levels of antibodies to gluten (anti-gliadin, antigliadin antibodies, or anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies)
- biopsy of the small intestine gave positive results
- you have been found to have genes responsible for a predisposition to gluten intolerance (HLA DQ2/8)
Secondly, for everyone who does not have antibodies to gluten and celiac disease: please remember that modern wheat still contains super-starches and is a powerful drug that provokes obesity, food addiction and the development of other diseases. Try to live for six weeks by eliminating gluten-containing foods completely and keep a diary of how you feel.
Surely many people don’t even realize that painful symptoms in the intestines occur after eating foods that contain gluten. A therapeutic diet for intestinal pathologies involves avoiding fatty, fried, spicy and salty foods; the patient’s diet should not contain processed foods or fast foods. It is important to exclude gluten-containing products from the menu, as they provoke aggravation and complications of the disease, and new problems with human health.
Definition
The composition of various cereal crops is dominated by gluten, which is a complex protein that is used to mix cereal flour with liquid. With its help, the dough becomes elastic, and the baked goods turn out airy and fluffy. Another name for gluten is “gluten”, which comes from the Latin word “gluten” - glue. It is used not only to improve flour, but also as a filler for dry food, canned food and other “industrial” food. Gluten in this case is used to enhance the taste of the product and provide it with a delicate texture, but at the same time it is a preservative.
Key Features
Abuse of gluten-containing foods leads to obesity. It is worth considering that the presence of gluten in products makes them harmful to the body. Gluten-containing foods contribute to excess weight gain, diabetes, cancer and other unwanted problems. This complex protein provokes inflammatory processes and chronic diseases. However, it is not dangerous for everyone; people with gluten intolerance are at risk, when the body is unable to break down gluten. Excessive consumption of foods containing gluten negatively affects the digestive system, which leads to the development of a kind of allergy.
If gluten-containing foods in the diet are within normal limits, then the organs of the digestive system cope with them without problems. An excess of gluten is difficult for the body to digest this amount, so it begins to accumulate in the intestines. The accumulation can occur for years without causing any symptoms, so many people are not even aware that they are at risk of developing a serious illness.
Effect on the intestines
Gluten affects the intestinal mucosa. What effect does gluten have on the human intestine? Getting into the digestive department along with food, it covers the walls of the intestinal mucosa, which is completely covered with villi, and prevents them from performing their main function - filtering harmful and beneficial substances. If there are no health problems, then vitamins and microelements pass through the intestinal lining and enter the blood plasma, while harmful substances are exported from the body along with urine. Therefore, it is important to prevent damage to the intestinal walls, because with their dysfunction, harmful components will begin to enter the blood, which is dangerous for the development of serious complications and ailments.
Determination of intestinal sensitivity to gluten
Most people independently determine the body's reaction to gluten. To do this, it is enough to exclude gluten-containing products from the diet for 3-4 days and carefully observe changes in your well-being after they return to the menu. It takes 1.5-2 weeks to restore the intestinal microflora. If, after returning flour products, cereals and other foods that contain gluten, pronounced digestive problems appear, then you must undergo a full medical test for celiac disease. However, this disease is not the only pathology that develops when consuming gluten from cereals.
The consequence of overeating gluten-containing foods can be bloating.
Today there is such a thing as “gluten sensitivity,” when excessive consumption of gluten-containing foods contributes to the deterioration of a person’s general condition. A clinical picture appears that is similar to symptoms or an allergic reaction to wheat, and disappears after completely eliminating gluten from the diet. Symptoms of gluten sensitivity include:
- bloating;
- pain in the stomach;
- loose stool;
- constant feeling of fatigue;
- constipation;
- depression;
- rashes, itching on the skin;
- decreased concentration;
- burning in the esophagus;
- nausea;
- joint pain;
- vomiting reflex;
- inflammation of the mucous membrane of the tongue.
Determination of sensitivity to glutinous protein is carried out by excluding an allergic reaction to gluten from cereal crops and a disease in which incomplete breakdown of the gluten protein occurs. If both of these diseases are not confirmed, then a laboratory test of the patient’s blood is performed for the presence of antibodies to the glycoprotein.
Gluten and nutrition
In childhood
Baby food should completely exclude products containing gluten. When it is time to introduce the first complementary foods, parents should be careful. The risk of developing the problem is increased in children under the first year of life and those who have a hereditary predisposition to celiac disease. In infants, the intestines are still at the stage of formation and therefore they are not able to fully absorb the gluten of cereal crops. When gluten enters a child’s digestive system, it causes bloating in the intestines, weak and frequent stools, and pain in the tummy. To avoid these gastrointestinal problems, parents need to study the composition of the products they offer their baby. Each package of baby food should have a corresponding symbol indicating that it is gluten-free.
For the first feeding, gluten-free porridges are suitable, namely buckwheat and rice. However, you should not completely protect your child from gluten; they begin to introduce it gradually, observing the reaction of the child’s body. Gluten products in moderate doses should be present in the diet, as they:
- saturate the body with vegetable protein;
- promote the absorption of vitamins;
- allow you to quickly get enough.
Gluten... What is this stranger that people are so interested in? He even divided them into two camps - defenders and opponents of use. The first vehemently defend its safety and usefulness, while others no less fervently call for abandoning this product in favor of gluten-free dishes. Let's find out if there is a middle ground in this debate.
The acquaintance begins
If we ask chemists or biologists what gluten is, we will hear from them the answer: it is a complex organic compound, a protein that is insoluble in water. It is based on combinations of various amino acids, such as gliadin, prolamine, glutelin. We think this answer will satisfy only chemists. Us, ordinary people, I would like a clearer explanation. Something like “this is a protein, it contains amino acids, our cells are made of them, which means we need them.”
Naturally, the term “gluten” is not Russian; in Latin it sounds like gluten. We call it the familiar word gluten. Hearing this familiar name, many housewives immediately remembered the process of kneading dough. It was in the dough that gluten was born.
Place of gluten in nature
From the very beginning, gluten did not bother anyone. He was born into grains, of which his favorites were wheat, oats, barley and rye. He was not friends with buckwheat and rice, but was slightly familiar with corn grits. Gluten accumulated all summer in grain houses, which were collected from the field in the fall and sent to the mill. Flour millers turned the grain into flour, in which the protein sat quietly and did not let anyone know about it.
And then the flour found its way into the kitchen - the housewife wanted to bake fluffy bread or crispy buns. As soon as she poured water into the flour, the gluten immediately appeared in all its glory and showed what it was capable of, turning the mixture of flour and water into a sticky mass. It should be noted that gluten does not dissolve in water, but only interacts with it. From this mass you can easily form a dough of any consistency.
So, we can draw a small conclusion: gluten is the glue that sticks flour and water together so that the ingredients do not fall apart. In addition, it adds B vitamins, calcium, iron to bread, gives elasticity to flour products, improves their taste and increases beneficial properties.
Secret test item discovered
The quiet and unknown life of gluten changed dramatically in the distant 18th century. People began to rapidly understand the world in which they live. This also affected food production. Until this time, women baked bread every day and did not attach any importance to this process. Sometimes they complained that the flour was somehow unruly, did not want to knead, the dough did not rise, and the bread crumbled. This is not how male cooks behaved at all. When faced with similar difficulties, they did not complain, but tried to understand why the same process proceeded differently. As a result of a long search, the famous Cesare Beccaria was able to declassify the composition of the dough and isolated gluten from it. What did this give to humanity?
Now they have learned to separate gluten from flour and use it independently. As it turns out, this is very easy to do. You need to leave the finished batter in water. Gradually the water will dissolve everything except the gluten. The starch solution is drained, and the remaining gluten is crushed, dried and compacted. In industrial conditions, this process is carried out using thickening separators. Dry protein is packaged and actively used in the food industry.
Wheat or gluten - substitution of values
Before continuing our story about the adventures of gluten protein, we need to shed a little light on one event that indirectly influenced his future fate. This happened in connection with the desire to overcome hunger.
The first problem is to get a good harvest in poor environmental conditions. Having solved it, you are faced with a storage problem. It is difficult to preserve grain, as it spoils quickly. And if you consider that this is the main food product all over the world, it turns out to be a global problem.
The solution to these problems was to develop grains that would be resistant to bad weather conditions, contain more nutrients and could be stored for a long time. And such grain was bred in the fifties by breeder Norman Borlaug. The peculiarity of this variety is its high gluten content.
Everyone loved this variety, but not because it solved the problems of hunger, but because it contained a large amount of gluten. Wheat natural protein, which was extracted from high quality flour, became more valuable in the eyes of manufacturers than wheat.
Gluten euphoria in the food industry
Having isolated gluten into a separate product, food manufacturers quickly found application for its main properties:
Consequences of euphoria
Culinary experiments gradually began to bear fruit. The urban population is accustomed to eating semi-finished products that contain large amounts of gluten. What does this mean for the body?
Imagine that you eat cottage cheese for breakfast, sausages or frozen cutlets with bread or wheat porridge for lunch, and crab stick salad or ice cream for dinner. During the day you snack on buns or chips. If you remember the gluten content in the foods you ate, then at the end of the day you realize that your body received a monthly dose of this substance in a day. Guess how he will feel after this?
The effect of gluten on the human body
What happens in the body when gluten enters it? The benefits and harms of this protein are determined by two factors - heredity and quantity.
Firstly, there is a small group of people on the planet who are not friendly with gluten from birth. They suffer from a syndrome discovered by several doctors in different countries. This disease is called Guy-Herter-Heubner syndrome. The body of this group of people is unable to produce the enzyme that breaks down the peptide gluten chains. Chemists have already said that these are amino acids linked into a complex protein. The body must disassemble them into individual elements and use them for its own purposes. People with this syndrome do not have necessary tools to do this.
Secondly, people whose diet consists of foods containing gluten consume it in very large quantities. It accumulates in the body, the digestive system wears out. As a result, a person develops an acquired allergy to gluten - the so-called gluten intolerance.
The dangers of overeating gluten
The digestion process takes place with the participation of gastric juice. If the intake of gluten in the body is small (as it was when we consumed it in its natural form as part of normal cereals and bread), the enzymes of a healthy person are able to process them. However, if gluten is consumed in large quantities, the body cannot cope.
As a result, unprocessed residues accumulate in the intestines. Gradually, they destroy the villi of the mucous membrane, and the papillae, which are supposed to absorb nutrients, stop responding and lose their sensitivity. As a result, two painful conditions develop: poisoning and starvation.
Harmful substances enter the blood through damaged intestinal walls. They poison the body and destroy nervous system, harm the functioning of the brain. Due to the fact that the intestinal villi are not fully capable of absorbing nutrients, a person does not receive many microelements from food that the body itself is unable to produce.
Gluten protein goes underground
From euphoria, society fell into hysteria. The previously praised gluten has turned into a terrible killer. In fact, the fault lies not with the protein, but with the manufacturers who use it for other purposes. The latter refuse to admit their guilt and do not want to change anything in the production of their products.
As a result, wheat gluten can be found less and less often in products manufactured in industrial conditions - it has been replaced by such strange ingredients as modified starch, textured vegetable protein, hydrolyzed thickener and other combinations. However, all these names are translated into simple Russian as “wheat gluten.”
Side effects of the war on gluten
Other food manufacturers have taken advantage of people's desire to be healthy by eliminating gluten. What did this entail? Vegetables, fruits, natural fish and meat, beans, and nuts have become fashionable. However, new concepts in cooking have also appeared. For example, today people have the opportunity to try gluten-free bread. What kind of bread is this and how were they able to make it?
Most often, flour products that do not contain gluten protein are made from the flour of those cereals that do not contain this protein. It can be rice, buckwheat or corn flour. However, more fats and synthetic thickeners have to be added to such dough so that it does not crumble and has viscosity. The result is that the product does not contain gluten, but is still harmful to the body.
Gluten-free dead end
How to avoid the dangerous effects of gluten foods on the body if gluten-free analogues are also harmful? The answer is very simple! There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Remember what gluten is. He is not an enemy, he lived in a grain of wheat from the very beginning until he was made a hero.
If you want to avoid its harmful effects, simply eat as you did before. Prepare delicious dishes at home, especially from vegetables. Do not overuse store-bought processed meats. If you have a congenital gluten allergy, follow the diet.
Another food industry paradox
Although more and more more people switch to healthy eating, food manufacturers are not going to give up, and relatively recent discoveries in the chemical industry have given them a new round of optimism. What is it based on?
For a long time it was believed that corn grits did not contain gluten. However, today many people hear the concept of corn gluten. What kind of paradox is this? This is a new invention of food scientists, which was obtained completely by accident.
Since corn is primarily used for feed production, it is often processed. When they tried to produce starch and molasses from corn, they ended up with waste in the form of gluten. The most interesting thing is that this type of gluten protein is not harmful to the intestinal villi, so new products await us, which will include already the new kind gluten free
The harm and benefits of gluten are determined by the specifics of the food product. Allergic reactions, intolerance to certain foods and excess weight in children or adults occur at every step. The first descriptions of the harm of gluten to the human body were registered in the West, when scientists around the world conducted a series of gastroenterological studies in certain categories of patients. Marketers in the food industry promote gluten-free products on the market, and restaurants and the food industry present them as first courses. So what is gluten and what is this substance?
Gluten image
Gluten as a food component
Gluten is a combination of protein amino acids, peptides, and enzymes that glue flour together and make dough sticky and fluffy. When a yeast component is added, the dough becomes porous, and the baked goods become especially tasty. Another name for gluten is gluten, which is due to the properties of the substance. The amount of gluten in flour determines its quality. So, the higher the amount of this substance, the more valuable the properties of the flour and, therefore, the higher its grade. Baked goods made from premium flour do not mold, retain their shape for a long time, and do not dry out for almost several days.
Gluten contains about 18 essential amino acids that are not synthesized by the body on its own. The main ones include:
- methionine (an amino acid involved in the production of hemoglobin);
- lysine (an amino acid that is involved in the regenerative processes of internal organs and tissues);
- threonine (a lipotropic amino acid that supports the normal functioning of the gastrointestinal tract).
Important! Gluten is a plant protein found in many cereals (barley, rye, wheat, oats). When gluten is extracted from grains, the result is a very sticky mass without a pronounced taste, smell and with a gray tint. Chemical formula This mass is not homogeneous, since the direct protein chain is adjacent to other compounds and components, the properties of which have not been fully studied.
Flour products with gluten
Beneficial features
So what is gluten and why is it harmful or beneficial? Gluten is found in many foods and is included in some vitamin supplements due to its invaluable beneficial properties. The main beneficial properties include:
- normalization of hemoglobin levels;
- tissue regeneration at the cellular level;
- strengthening the immune system;
- restoration of stomach and intestinal functions;
- strengthening bone tissue;
- restoration of the body after operations and injuries;
- saturating the body with multivitamins and minerals.
The main emphasis in the benefits of gluten points specifically to enhancing the regenerative abilities of tissues. This can also cause harm, which can be expressed in the accumulation of fat or muscle mass for some people.
Harm of gluten
Many doctors, including nutritionists, consider gluten to be harmful to the body. The harm from gluten is especially promoted by marketers who are involved in promoting new expensive trends in the food industry. The main harm is as follows:
- development of allergic reactions: possibility of intoxication;
- severe functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract;
- gluten intolerance;
- irritation of the mucous tissues of the stomach or intestines.
The harm of gluten is the development of certain diseases and systematic dyspeptic disorders. Typically, such complications due to non-compliance with a gluten-free diet are typical for patients with a burdened clinical history of gastroenterology.
Possible complications
The following are considered special complications after excessive consumption of gluten in food and its accumulation in the body:
- stool disorder;
- regular constipation;
- flatulence or increased gas formation;
- stomach disorders;
- pain in the intestinal area.
Another disease that is rare in gastroenterological practice (only 1-2% of cases around the globe) is celiac disease. is a gluten eneropathy, and the peculiarity of the disease is characterized by the rejection of gluten by the human immune system. The immune system perceives it as a foreign protein and rejects it from the body. The etiology of the disease is determined by genetic factors.
Important! Harm to the body is caused by high consumption of gluten and its excessive accumulation in the body. With adequate consumption in the diet, as well as against the background of the patient’s absolute health on the part of the epigastric organs, the harm from flour gluten is minimal and not noticeable against the background of the overall benefit.
Gluten intolerance
Gluten intolerance or increased sensitivity of the body to it is a common problem today even in completely healthy people. There are two main factors in the development of gluten intolerance in people:
- For several centuries, breeders have selected special varieties of wheat, growing unique varieties with a high gluten content. Almost all wheat these days is enriched with protein components by 80%. Improving the quality of wheat contributes to an increase in the incidence of celiac disease in humans.
- The human stomach does not fully digest grain, like birds, for example. The bird's stomach has all the necessary enzymes for complete digestion.
If you experience frequent causeless abdominal pain, stool disorders, or the development of anemia, you should suspect the development of gluten intolerance. You can try a temporary gluten-free diet with your gastroenterologist. If you feel better, you need to reconsider your diet. If you drink beer frequently, it is better to ask whether the beer contains gluten.
Important! Beer contains large amounts of gluten, so some allergic reactions and symptoms similar to celiac disease are possible after drinking this drink. Gluten is artificially added to many products to enhance their taste and increase shelf life. The high quality of the product contains virtually no artificial additives or additional protein. Gluten consumption in in kind practically does not harm the human body in the absence of various provoking factors.
Products with gluten
Important! A gluten-free diet is not synonymous with a low-calorie diet. The absence of gluten has a healing effect on the body of people with protein intolerance. Some gluten-free foods contain many times the calories of foods without the protein. For those wishing to lose weight, a gluten-free diet will not bring the long-awaited results.
Products with gluten
The harmful properties of gluten appear after eating dairy products, certain types of meat, baked goods and fast food such as hamburgers, chips, hot dogs, cheeseburgers and other things. Some baked goods and dairy products pose a gluten risk due to poor quality, so it is very important to study the ingredients on the product packaging. Some manufacturers completely replace gluten with useless or harmful components, selling them much more expensive, given the fashion for healthy eating. The main foods high in gluten include:
- all cereals (barley, wheat grain, millet, corn, oats);
- cereal products (baked goods, pasta, beer drinks, kvass);
- grain porridges (semolina, oatmeal, barley porridge, pearl barley);
- sauces (tomato ketchup, soy sauce, milk mixtures, yoghurts and starter cultures, ice cream, cottage cheese, condensed milk, cheese products);
- sausage products (usually low quality);
- stewed meat and canned food (meat, fish);
- all semi-finished products (dumplings, dumplings, cheesecakes, various meatballs or cutlets).
Other information about gluten
Discomfort after eating wheat products does not always indicate the occurrence of celiac disease. General unpleasant symptoms may indicate a classic manifestation of allergic reactions. Some nutritionists say that eating corn gluten is contraindicated for people with celiac disease. This opinion is more false, since the molecular structure of corn gluten differs from wheat gluten and more often provokes allergic reactions. Corn protein practically does not damage the villi in the intestinal cavity as much as wheat protein. Additionally, corn gluten is the name of a common feed additive for livestock and poultry. With normal tolerance to corn gluten there is no harm to human health. Millet should not be included in the list of gluten-free products, since it is not a cereal crop and does not contain gluten.
In summary, it is important to note moderation in consuming gluten-rich foods. The older a person is, the less gluten and grains his diet should contain. Typically, gluten-rich foods make up the children's diet (porridge, mixtures, dairy products). If you develop celiac disease, it is recommended to eliminate gluten from your diet completely. The danger of gluten in case of gluten intolerance lies in the gradual destruction of organs, up to their complete dysfunction. An experienced nutritionist or gastroenterologist will help you create the right diet for gluten intolerance. Attention to one's own health, as well as adherence to a protective regime in the presence of a burdened clinical history, will help maintain the health of children and adults without unpleasant complications.
There are serious passions surrounding gluten. But until recently we didn’t know what it was: we calmly ate store-bought bread, baked homemade cakes, and the only thing that confused us about this food was that it made us fat.
Now, baking can be dangerous not only for weight, but also for health, and in medicine a special term “celiac disease” has appeared - gluten intolerance. Let's try to figure out what happened and why.
There is more gluten
Gluten does exist and has always existed. It is translated from Latin as “glue” or the more understandable word “gluten”.
It is a complex protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oats. This is what “glues” grains of flour together during production. bakery products. And it is thanks to gluten that buns are so airy and pizza dough is so sticky.
So why didn’t people have any reaction before - you ask. The fact is that people transferred the culture, which always grew in wild conditions, to other lands that were not suitable for it. But you can’t fool the soil! It is necessary to add special vitamins (including synthetic ones!), which help the culture to take root and develop.
Thanks to these fertilizers, artificial growing conditions and genetic engineering, modern grains contain 40 times (!) more gluten than grains that grew just a few decades ago. It is this large dose of gluten that can become a problem for digestion and health. After all, these grains are filled with chemistry and their molecular structure is unfamiliar to our body. Imagine your digestive fire: it needs to warm up and digest this huge, foreign, sticky mass that entered the stomach along with the seemingly innocent cupcake.
Is the fire strong?
Besides the fact that grains now contain many times more gluten than before, there is another reason why we often react poorly to grain products: digestion modern people for the most part much worse than before. It's spoiled by fast food modified products and stress. If a person’s digestive fire works correctly, enzymes are produced correctly, the liver and pancreas work correctly, gluten is not dangerous.
For example, in India there is no problem with gluten. Because 90% of Indians eat chili, which releases a huge amount of enzymes - and everything is digested! Spices remove all types of irritants in the mucous membrane. Of course, Indians have their own allergies, but they are not related to the gastrointestinal tract. But this does not mean that we also need to start eating chili - our body is not adapted to this.
Complaints
So, most likely, if you have a strong digestion, you will digest the unfortunate gluten.
If you have poor digestion, then it is not surprising if you have difficulty digesting grain foods.
From the point of view of traditional medicine, with weak digestion, the pure and unclean parts of food cannot in the right way separate in the stomach and the unclean part enters the blood. From a scientific point of view, this is explained as follows: an undigested protein molecule mistakenly enters the blood, when only the protein should enter the blood. The body defines the “wrong” food as foreign, and all sorts of unpleasant symptoms arise. These include irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, belching, depression and more.
What to do
Doctor Tibetan medicine Geshe Rinchen Tenzin says, “In general, we have no choice but to continue eating grains because most of our food is chemical. And the further it goes, the worse it will be. We can exclude flour, milk, fruits, but what will we be left with in the end? Moreover, it is important to take into account that grains give strength to our body, and children cannot live without them - body growth and bone development depend on them.”
1. Try to eat grains that have been dried and aged for at least a year - they are easier to digest.
2. Heat the grains in a frying pan - this is best done with all cereals currently sold in stores.
3. Whenever possible, eat country foods and bake homemade.
4. When cooking wheat/barley/oat porridge, cook the grains longer than usual - this helps get rid of fertilizers and chemicals. And add some hot spices to them.
5. Watch your digestion. a) Do not snack constantly (at least 3 hours should pass between meals); b) Do not eat in front of the TV or in a hurry; c) Do not eat later than 2-3 hours before bedtime.
6. Treat indigestion if you have it. (This is not indigestion in the ordinary sense of the word, but indigestion which indicates poor metabolism in the body due to decreased digestive fire).
Valentina Ivushkina (Golovkina) is the editor of the Yoga Journal website, a certified nutrition and lifestyle specialist (in the tradition of Tibetan health science), a student at the Higher School of Tibetan Medicine.
